Something New
by Ericana
Summary: Moving to a new place just may be the kind of change she needed. You have to ask yourself sometimes "Does everything really happen for a reason?"
1. A Change?

Authors Note: I do not own Twilight it belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I just like to write what isn't there :)

Chapter One: A Change?

Have you ever wished you were someone else? Spent days imaging what it would be like? What would have happened if your parents never met? Would you still be born but different? Different looks, different personality, different goals, different experiences, and hopefully very different memories. I have. Just about everyday I wish my life had turned out different. Now don't get me wrong I am grateful for everything I have but at the same time I wonder what COULD have been. If my father never went crazy? If my mom never got to courage to stand up for herself? If the years of abuse had never happened? These questions are forever in my head with no where to go and no way of ever finding out the answers. I wish so hard sometimes that things could have been happy, we were happy at one point, or so I thought. It seems now like such a distant memory, like something you once heard about or read in the paper, but it's real and resurfaces at the worst possible time. When you are at your weakest, when you need that shoulder to cry on and no ones there, when you feel totally alone. That's when you remember the memories, the ones you've kept hidden in a vault for no one to see. They come back to you as soon as your guard is down.

I knew we had to move but it was so hard to leave my friends. They were the kids I started school with. We went through everything together. From learning how to tie our shoes to Sex Ed from the principal. They were people I would share happy childhood memories with forever, the closest thing I knew to siblings. They were always there. Going through school there was always those few kids who would show up halfway through the year and you could barely remember who they were when looking back at old pictures. Some would stay or some would move again and start over somewhere else.

I never really thought I would be one of those people. No ones parents had ever gotten a divorce; this is back when you didn't really hear about divorce unless you were reading the magazines on the selves standing in line at the grocery store. You never heard of parents fighting or parents cheating. We all came from happy families but oh how things look wonderful on the outside looking in.

I realized things were changing when my parents started fighting. They would try to wait until they thought I was asleep and it would have worked if it wasn't for my fathers' explosive temper. I would hear the crash of something being broken and awakened I would be, up to defend my mom anyway I could. I know now that only being 13 at the time, I never should have been put in the situations I was. I was a protector, I was born to protect my mother and that's what I would do. My early teenage life was horrible. Imagine normal teen-hood with the added bonus of physiological abuse at home with failing grades at school caused by spotty attendance due to too many nights awake fighting.

But now things would be different, I would be a different person. A person who didn't show fear. A person who wouldn't be hurt again. Things would change, moving to Forks would be a big change but it would be the change we needed for everything to be okay for once. Together my mother and I would be just fine. I just knew it.

Thanks for reading. I'm new at this writing stuff so sorry if it sucks lol :) review if you want :)


	2. New Starts

Authors Note: I do not own Twilight it belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I just like to write what isn't there. :)

Chapter Two: New Starts

Now lets start off with the basics. I'm 18 years old and fresh out of high school. My mother and I have just moved from Nova Scotia, Canada. Why did we decide to move all the way to Forks, Washington you may ask? Well since I was a little girl my mother and I would play a game. We would take out our large tattered map from the closet in the hall. We would lay it out on the living room floor, close our eyes and point to a spot on the map, and that's where we would go. Even if it was London, England we would plan our trip and what we would do when we got there. Even though we never _could actually _go there we like to pretend. Living our lives it was nice at times to think of ourselves far away from reality. So when my mom finally decided I was old enough and we were ready to get away from "him" we brought out our map and we landed on Forks. So here we are.

I always thought when I turned 18 I would move out on my own. Have an apartment with my best friend, living in the city, going out having the time of my life. Instead I'm moving to Forks with my mom. I know she could have done it on her own, gotten away but we were one. Not complete without the other. Closer then any other mom and daughter had ever been. Sure we had are fights but that was mostly because were so alike. She is my best friend in all the world.

We bought this cute little house. White with blue trim. Two stories, with lots of windows. It was back from the road with a long drive way, with trees decorating the sides. We had gardens out in front of the house, but knowing us they would be dead before long. We were not gardening people. There was a deck on the back with a small back yard, which ended at the tree line. It was a little intimidating looking at the woods behide the house. It was so larger and dark and mysterious. You could only see a few feet in then nothing but darkness. Eyeing the lounge chair in the corner of the deck I knew that would be my spot. A soft sigh escaped me when I realized we were safe. He didn't know where we were or how to find us. It was an amazing feeling, finally being free after so many years. Pushing the painful memories aside I Decided it was time to start unpacking. We had just arrived but the sky was starting to get darker and I have been told it rains here. A lot. We didn't have much stuff. Just what we had been able to load into the van while "father" was gone. We had our clothes, pictures, documents, and whatever else we had needed. As for furniture the house came with all the furniture the pervious owner had. They didn't want to take it to their new home, so it was include with the price. It worked out well because then we didn't have as much to do.

I walked out to the van where my mother had grabbed the first bag of stuff to go in.

"What do ya think baby girl?" she said as easily shifted the bag from one side to the other.

"I think it's gonna be good" I smiled at her.

A smiled spread over her face. That made everything worth it. The whole move even if it wasn't my first choice of things to do in life, my mom was happy and safe. If she could smile like that then there was no reason why I couldn't. Like I said "it's gonna be good". And it was, it just had to be.

Thanks :)


	3. A Job?

Authors Note: I do not own Twilight it belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I just like to write what isn't there.

Chapter Two: A Job?

It had been a week since we moved in. We had put some of our own touches around the house. We had put pictures up and of course I had books all over the house. Reading was my favorite pass time. It gave me a chance to escape from the world. I could be somewhere else, be someone else, live their lives for just a small period of time.

Well there I go again I get distracted. So the house it was a home now. We had a small entry way with a small closet on the right side for our coats and shoes. There was a hallway to the left where you could go upstairs or continue on the to living room. The living room was quite large with a fireplace on the far side of the wall. Our couch was in facing it with the TV hanging on the wall above it. The room was a nice deep red colour with white trim. The kitchen was connected by a small kitchen island connected to the wall. It wasn't a big kitchen but that didn't matter we weren't really that into cooking. As in we couldn't cook. We had already tracked down a small diner where the staff already knew us by name. We also had a small dining room off the kitchen but it was being used as a computer room. Upstairs we had 3 bedrooms. My mom had the master bedroom with a bathroom attached. She had a nice view of the front yard and the drive way, and had a small balcony off the front of the house. My room was a fair size one. It was a deep royal purple colour with a big bed up against the far wall. It had two big windows on the side that look right into the backyard to the woods. I never put curtains up because I loved the view of the woods. Thanks to my mom having her own bathroom the small bath down the hall from my room was all mine. It had a nice size shower and a big mirror that took up most of the wall in front of the sink.

The house was perfect. The neighbors were nice, though there weren't many. Since we were so far of the road you couldn't see anyone from our house. It was once you were on the main road that you would see anyone. Those were the people we considered our neighbors. The police chief of the town, Chief Swan lived near us. He lived alone as far as we knew but he was nice. He welcomed us on our first day here with happy wishes and smiles.

I missed my friends so much. Joey, Sasha and Chase were closer then family and it was the first time we had really been away from each other. Sure in the summer time we would go off to different summer camps but we would write everyday and send pictures back and forth. But this was different and I knew it wouldn't be the same but I knew they would come visit it me when they could afford it and me the same.

Today I was on the hunt for a job. I knew I had to do something because staying in the house all day was not something I could do for much longer. Mom was taking sometime off which she deserved. She hasn't had a vacation for years and needed some time to herself. So I grab the keys for the van and took of through town trying to find somewhere that was hiring.

Driving through town wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. In Halifax were I was from there were side streets and one ways all over the place but here it was small and easy to navigate. I found a store with a help wanted sign in the window.

"_Newton's" _I said to myself.

It was a sporting good store. I had no clue about hiking or camping or anything sporting related but I was a quick learner and was willing to do anything.

I walked in the store and was greeted by a young guy a little younger then me.

"Hey can I help you with something?" he said in a happy tone.

"Ya,… Hi my names Ellie. I just moved here. Um….is the manager around? I saw the sign out front and I wanted to drop off a resume. I'm flexible and can start anytime and work anytime you need me" I said in the most confident voice I could muster.

"I'll take it for you my parents own the store. Names Mike nice to meet ya." He smiled.

"They really need somebody right now it's just a part time position. About 20 or 25 hours a week. It would be mostly morning and afternoon shifts because that's when I'm in school. I come and help out after though. My parents think it creates responsibility to work, so here I am." He laughed. "I'll let them know about this as soon as they get home". He said.

"Thank you so much. It was nice to meet you Mike. Hopefully I'll be working with you soon." I smiled at him and walked to the front door.

That went well I thought to myself. I hope I get the job I would love to have some cash of my own. I needed to go shopping. Now I'm not one of those girls that has to have the newest trends and newest clothes and just has to go shopping, I would just like to get a few new articles as I didn't really grab as much as I had wanted in our hurry to leave.

When I got home my mom was on the couch just staring at the fire place with her feet on the coffee table with a glass of wine in her hand. I stood there for a minute watching her. She looked so peaceful. It made me smile.

"Hey mom I'm home" I said dropping my purse on the floor and hanging my coat up.

"How did the job hunting go? Were there many prospects out there in the big town of Forks?" She said with a laugh.

"I dropped a few off but I'm hopeful about the one I dropped off at this sporting goods store. I talked to the owners' son and he said they really needed someone." I told her.

"That's great honey, I'm happy for you"

I left her there on the couch and went up to my room. I turned the light on and went over to my window. I had set up a chair there that I had found in the spare room so I could read a book and look out at the woods. I sat down a just stared out the window getting lost in my thoughts.

This move had meant a lot of things. We were finally free and had so much ahead of us. It was scary but so exciting at the same time. What would happen? Who would we meet? What adventures were going to happen? I couldn't wait.

I got ready for bed and thought about what I would do tomorrow. As I laid down I decided I would go and explore this new town and maybe find my way to the beach in La Push I had heard some of the locals talking about the local coffee shop.


	4. Memories

Authors Note: I do not own Twilight it belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I just like to write what isn't there.

Chapter Four: Memories

"WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO!"

I woke with a start! I open my eyes and looked over at my cell phone.

Damn ringer. Note to self never let your friends play with your phone.

"Hello." I answered in a half asleep half awake voice.

"HELLO? HELLO? Is that all you have to say to your best friend in the entire world? It's been a week since I last heard from you and all you have to say is Hello? What's going on? How's the House? What's Forks like? Miss me yet? Any cute guys?" She laughed.

"Well I am officially awake now" I smiled to myself. This was typical Sasha over the top and to the point. Man did I miss her.

"Well I'm glad you're awake but why haven't you called? We've been so worried about you. Joey has been worried sick and you know how she gets." She said in an exasperated tone.

Joey was famous for over reacting. You forget to call her one night and she thinks your dead. If you were late for anything, you've been kidnapped. She's a really great friend but really needs to take a chill pill. She has defiantly watched way too many crime shows.

"Well to answer you're questions the house is amazing. I love every bit of it. Fork's is okay I guess. Small very small but nice, I like the quite. It's a big change from Halifax that's for sure. Do I miss you yet? Hhmmmm..?" I pretended to think about that one for a minute.

"Yes of course I miss you! and Joey and Chase. Are there any cute guys? Well there might be but none that I have seen so far. I met this one guy, Mike. He's okay but not my type at all and he's in high school still, so no way." I laughed.

"Well you gotta find someone out there, sorry chick but you need a guy."

"And what use do I have for a boyfriend?" I said. "All that would be is trouble. Guys are nothing but trouble in my books. You let yourself fall for them and they walk all over you. There's nothing there Sash. After what I saw my father do what he did to my mother and after what I went through with Ted, no interest. No thanks."

She sighed. I knew she thought it would be a good distraction for me to maybe meet a guy have some fun but really I didn't want to be hurt again. That was one of my goals when moving here, to not be hurt again and I planned to keep that promise. If that meant swearing off guys for awhile then fine by me.

"He was asking about you again." She said in a small voice.

"And what did you tell him Sasha?" I asked in a controlled voice.

"I just told him you moved away. He seemed pretty upset. What happened between you guys anyway? You seemed so happy together then over night it was over. You can trust me, just tell me what happened?"

I didn't know what to do. Truth be told I didn't want to think about what happened. I hadn't thought about that night in almost a month.

-_FLASH BACK-_

_Music was blaring in the background. People were everywhere. Dancing, talking, laughing, drinking. People were in the kitchen playing cards at the table. It was the last big party all of us would be at together before going off in different directions. Some were going away to university in other provinces and others were just getting the hell out of Nova Scotia. _

_My hand was holding on to a big red plastic beer cup. I was standing there talking to Kyle, a guy I had gone to school with since elementary. _

"_And he was like man back up the snakes gonna bite your ass!" He laughed._

_I laughed at his story. We hadn't been close or anything but we had known each other for so long it didn't matter, we were friends. He was going out West to work in about a week so this would be the last time I saw him for awhile. _

_I glanced up at him and he was staring at me. Not in creepy kind of way, just a had a few too many beer kinda way._

"_You know I wish I had of had the courage to ask you out before Ted did." He said softly._

"_Come on Kyle that's the beer talking. You and me have known each other forever. We're better of just being friends anyway. I wish we had of talked more." I smiled._

_He started to lean in towards me but ended up on the floor. He was laughing his ass off and I wasn't mush better. People on the couch were looking at us kind of strange so I adjusted myself and helped him from the floor._

"_Come on Kyle let's go get you a big glass of water." I let him lean on my arm while I helped him to the kitchen. I propped him up against the counter and went in search of a glass. As I found the cupboard and started to reach up to grab a glass, a hand reached out and grabbed my arm with a rough tug,_

"_What the…" I started but my words lost in my throat when my eyes met with my boyfriend, Ted. _

"_We need to go for a walk." He said tightening his hold on my arm._

"_I came with Chase and the girls just let me go tell them I'll be back." I said trying to tear my arm out of his grasp._

"_No you and me are going outside so you can explain to me what I just saw." I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't happy and I wasn't sure why._

_Ted was never one to get jealous. He never had a reason to. I loved him and I would never do anything to hurt him. We had been dating since grade 11 and had been friends first. He asked me out in the hall outside of our history class. I had been shocked but excited because I had secretly liked him for a few months already. _

_He pulled my out the back door on to the back deck. It was dark out already making me wonder what time it was. _

_I looked over at Ted and I had never seen this side of him before. It scared me because he had this crazy look in his eyes. It was like it wasn't even him._

"_I saw you with Kyle. How long have you been cheating on me for?" _

"_I don't know what you're talking about." I laughed hoping he would laugh too but knowing he wouldn't._

"_I saw the two of you in the living room flirting. You were hanging right off of him. Everyone saw, why would you do that to me?" he yelled this last part._

"_Ted you know I love you and I wouldn't hurt you. I don't know what you think you saw but nothing happened." I didn't know what to think right now, I just knew I had to make him calm down._

"_Don't lie to me. I saw you with my own two eyes." _

"_Have you been drinking Ted?" I said in a smaller then small voice._

"_What does that have to do with anything that we're talking about." He slurred slightly._

"_Ted this isn't you talking lets get you home and we'll talk in the morning. Come on babe let's go get our stuff." I grabbed his arm and smiled up at him._

_When my eye's got to his face, I had just met his eyes when "SMACK"._

_I was speechless. What had just happened? The pain started to shoot through my left cheek as the realization hit me. Ted had just hit me. He slapped me across the face. What did I do to deserve this. What the hell was going on?_

"_I didn't mean to it was an accident!" he stuttered. He tried to grab my hand but I pulled away. He had just laid his hands on me. He hit me. Would it ever happen again? HELL NO. I was done. That was the breaking point. Right then and there I decided for both myself and my mother that we weren't going to let men treat us like this. _

"_I'm so, so sorry baby, I didn't mean it. It was a mistake."_

"_No it wasn't, you were mad because you thought something was going on between me and Kyle. The only mistake that was made was Me with someone like You." And I walked away._

_I walked up the back deck and back in to the kitchen. Kyle was still slumped against the counter but he now had a pretty blonde slumped next to him drunkly trying to hold a conversation with him._

_Everything seemed muted. I was alone in a house full of people. I walked right through the make shift dance floor and out the front door. The Dennis' house where the party was being held was only a few streets away for my house. _

_I walked into my house and was met with the sight of my mother trying to pick up glass from, by the looks of it, a few pictures that had been on the wall. I could tell my father was gone because there was silence, like the calm after the storm._

"_Mom we can't do this anymore. We gotta get out of here. You and Me, we can do it."_

_ -END FLASH BACK-_

After quickly changing the subject with Sasha, I told her to send my love to Joey and Chase and told her I would call her soon. I just laid there on the bed thinking again about that night. It had been horriable but everything happens for a reason. There was a reason Ted had gotten angry and there was reason why everything happened the way it did. I was a stronger person now and wouldn't let myself be put in that situation again.

Deciding it was finally time to pry myself out of bed. I went straight to the bathroom to shower and wake up. I wound up in the kitchen 40 minutes later. Hair still wet while I looked through the fridge for anything that look even slightly eatable.

An apple would just have to do.

I grab the keys to the van off the dining room table and wrote a short note for mom for when she woke up.

Mom,

I took the van into town. I think I may find my way to the beach if there really is such a thing like that around here. I won't be late. I have my phone on me if you need anything.

Love Ellie xoxo

It didn't take me long to find the highway and soon I was in front of a small sign welcoming me to the tiny reserve of LaPush. It wasn't very big. Houses were scattered around in an odd fashion. There was a main road that had a garage, a small bar and grill and a one stop shop. You could see the coast from here and the ocean was beautiful. I grew up next to the ocean but this was something else. It was the most wonderful sight I had seen since I moved here. I knew I had to find my way down near the water.

About 15 minutes later I found myself standing on First Beach. The view was amazing and the ocean didn't disappoint. I sat down in the sand and watched the waves. It was an amazing sight. The beach was awesome, nice white sand and the woods created a boarder. There were fallen down trees along the tree line, which made benches for people sit a talk. It was times like this I wish I had a friend with me. Someone to talk to.

I decided to lean against one of the logs lying on the beach and read a book I had been carrying in my purse since we left Seattle. Just as I was starting to get absorbed in the book I heard a sound to my right. I turned my head and saw a girl with dark almost black brown hair about my age walking closer to me. She had the kind of look to her that said don't mess with me. I am not afraid to admit she did make me a bit nervous.

"Who are you?" she said quite bluntly.

"Who are you?" I replied in the same tone.

"I asked you first. And besides that this is my beach, I don't know who you are. You could be trouble for all I know." She said with a raised eyebrow." I don' think your are though, you look like a wimp." She smirked.

"Well if really want to get down to it you look like a bitch but I'm just saying…and as for you thinking this is _your _beach then you must be a bit dim too…."

She looked at me for a minute then a smile came to her face. "You got spunk. I kinda like that. Names Leah. And again, you are…?"

I thought for a moment and wondered if I really should tell her my name. Who was this girl? What did she want? I wasn't lying when I told her she looked like a bitch. She looked so angry, but hurt. There was something be hide that wall she had up.

"Ellie Cross." I stated simply. And that's were my friendship with one Leah Clearwater began. Looking back now I never realized then that that's the moment where everything started.

*Well I don't know if anyone wants me to continue this story or not but I am enjoying writing it and I think I might keep it up, reviews would be nice just to see what everyone thinks though Thanks :)


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